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MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR 



RELATIVE TO THE 



Stockton and Kearney Statues. 

TO THE LEGISLATURE, 

SESSION OF ISTS. i'LlJZ 




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MESSAGE. 



: State of New Jersey, Executive Department, ] 

Trenton, February 21, 1872. / 

Gentlemen of the Senate and General Assembly : — An act 
of Congress, passed several years since, authorized the President 
of the United States to invite each of the States to furnish 
statues in marble or bronze not exceeding two in number, of 
deceased persons who have been citizens of such State, and 
illustrious for their historic renown, or for distinguished civic or 
military services, and when so furnished, the same to be placed 
in the old Hall of the House of Representatives in the Capitol 
of the United States, to be set apart as a ITational Statuary Hall. 

On the 30th day of January, A.D. 1868, in response to an 
invitation from the President, the Legislature of the State of 
i^ew Jersey passed the following concurrent resolution, viz : 

"•Resolved, That the names of Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, and Major General Philip Kearney, late of the 
United States Volunteer Army, citizens of New Jersey, illustrious iov their 
historic renown, be, and they are hereby designated as eminently worthy of 
national commemoration, whose statues in bronze or marble shall occupy the 
place reserved for New Jersey in the National Statuary Hall." 

At the same session of the Legislature, the following joint 
resolutions were passed : 

Joint resolutions relative to appropriations for procuring statues of Stockton 

and Kearney. 

Whereas, by concurrent resolution of the Senate and General Assembly of the 
State of New Jersey, unanimously passed on the thirtieth day of January, 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, Richard Stockton, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, and Major General Philip 

]* Kearney, of the United States Volunteer Army, were designated as the 
illustrious Jerseymen eminently worthy of national commemoration, whose 
statues in bronze or marble shall occupy the places reserved for New Jersey 
in the National Statuary Hall at Washington. 

1. Be it resolved, hy the Senate and General Assembly of the State of 2\t,v Jersey, 
That the Treasurer of the State be authorized and directed to pay, under the 
direction of the committee hereafter selected, or a majority of them, the sum 
of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be required to procure the 
statues above indicated, the civilian marble, the soldier bronze. 

2. And be it resolved. That a joint committee of three from the Senate, and 
three from the House of Assembly,_be appointed to carry out the object above 
contemplated. "The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House to be 
on the Committee." 



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On the 5th day of March, A.D. 1868, the Speaker of the House 
of Assembly presented the following comraunication, which was 
read and ordered to be spread on the minutes : 

Trenton, IST. J., March 5, 1868. 
Hon. Augustus 0. Ecans, Speaker of the House of Assembly : 

Sir: — As chairman of the Soldier's Committee (appointed at 
a meeting in Newark, N. J., of volunteers late in the United 
States Armies) which have collected contributions for the pur- 
pose of procuring a statue of General Philip Kearney, U. S. V., 
I have the pleasure of informing the House of Assembly, that 
our treasurer. Major Alfred F. Sears, of Newark, N. J., has over 
one thousand dollars, which sum will be cheerfully passed over 
to the committee appointed by the Legislature as part of the sum 
necessary to carry out the object contemplated in the concurrent 
resolutions of this Legislature, passed January 30, 1868, and the 
joint resolutions just passed, associating the names of Richard 
Stockton and General Philip Kearney, as Jerseymen worthy of 
having their statues placed in the National Statuary Hall at 
Washington, D. C. 

I have the honor to be very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 
GEORGE B. HALSTED, Late U. S. V. 

Chairman of Newark Committee. 

The above are all the proceedings of the Legislature in refer- 
ence to the subject that I find. I am informed that the com- 
mittee was appointed, and that after making inquiry as to the 
probable cost of the proposed statues, it was ascertained that the 
appropriation was not sufficient, and no further action was taken. 
No part of the appropriation made has been drawn from the 
treasury. 

On the twenty-first day of December last. Senator Morrill of 
the State of Vermont, Chairman of the Senate Committee on 
Public Buildings and Grounds, addressed a letter on the subject 
to Senator Frelinghuysen of this State, which he forwarded to 
this department. 

I transmit herewith the communications of Senators Morill and 
Frelinghuysen, and invite attention to their contents. Several of 
the States have already acted, and some of the statues are placed 
in the hall. An additional appropriation to carry out the object 
contemplated in the resolutions of eighteen hundred and sixty- 
eight is recommended. A State so rich in historic fame of her 
civilians and soldiers as New Jersey, should not suffer the place 
alloted to her in the National Statuary Hall to remain vacant. 

JOEL PARKER. 



Washington, D. C, December 21, 1871. 
Hon. F. T. Frellnghiiysen, United States Senate: 

My Dear Sir : — May we not hope that tlie Governor and 
Legislature of your gallant State, will not let the present session 
of your Legislature pass without action with reference to placing 
the two statues of some of your most distinguished deceased 
citizens in the Old Hall of House of Kepresentatives, already 
set apart by law for such contributions from the several States ? 
Kich in materials, as New Jersey must be admitted to be, it is 
of some importance that a State, whose history is starred all the 
way from the time of the Revolution with names which still 
shed radiance on the whole country, should lead oti'in procuring 
appropriate works of art to commemorate the form as well as the 
virtues of some of her most illustrious dead. 

Let me remind you, that there is no hall in the world superior 
in architectural beauty to, or that will hereafter be more conspi- 
cious, than that set apart for the patriotic purposes mentioned, 
and destined to become the Mecca of the American people. 

I feel absolutely certain it will only be necessary for you to 
remind the generous State from which you come, that we yet 
miss her contributions here in order that it may soon fill its 
proper places, and which it will fill with so much honor to herself 
and sister States. 

May I not urge your friendly offices, in the way of completing 
in the Old Hall, what has already been so happily begun, and what 
promises to be one of the greatest attractions of the I^ational 
Capitol ? With my high regard, sincerley yours, 

JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 

United States Senate Chamber, ]_ 

Washington, January 13, 1872. ( 

My Dear Sir: — Senator Morrill, of Vermont, has written me 
the enclosed letter, which I commend to your favorable con- 
sideration. 

The Senator being Chairman of the Senate Committee on 
Public Buildings and Grounds, has taken an interest in having 
the several States send statues of two of their distinguished 
citizens, now deceased, to be placed in the Old Hall of the 
House of Representatives. 

Let New Jersey, never second to any State in national duty, 
not be behind her sisters in her generous and appropriate con- 
tribution to the memorial gallery thus being created at the 
Capitol. Yours truly, 

FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 

To His Excellency the Governor. 



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